The European Commission confirms ongoing negotiations for Ukraine’s association with GOVSATCOM and is preparing commercial capacities from 2027

The European Commission confirmed on 14 October that negotiations with Ukraine on its association with GOVSATCOM are under way and presented the system’s expansion with secure commercial capacity, planned for 2027, as one of the options through which Europe can strengthen its ability to support connectivity for Ukraine. The statements came amid questions about possible problems affecting the commercial satellite services used by Ukraine. The Commission did not confirm that Starlink had experienced an outage and declined to present GOVSATCOM or the future IRIS² as direct replacements for SpaceX services.

In brief, the Commission says that negotiations on Ukraine’s association with GOVSATCOM are ongoing. The Council officially authorised the negotiations on 9 March 2026, but Ukraine does not yet have full access under a final agreement. GOVSATCOM has operated since January 2026 by pooling the governmental satellite capacities of participating states. The EU intends to add secure commercial capacity to the GOVSATCOM catalogue from 2027. IRIS² will complement this architecture in the long term, but the first launches of the new constellation are scheduled for 2029.

GOVSATCOM already provides European authorities with secure satellite communications without the Union having to wait for the construction of a fully owned constellation. The system operates by pooling the existing governmental and military capacities of participating states, which can be requested by authorised public users through the shared GOVSATCOM Hub infrastructure. Initial services have been operational since January 2026, and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) manages their delivery. For Ukraine, this infrastructure could become relevant both for maintaining government communications and connectivity in crisis situations and for security and defence needs, but access is not automatic.

The procedure for including Ukraine began before the October statements. On 9 March, the Council of the European Union authorised the opening of negotiations on an international agreement establishing the rules for Ukraine’s participation in GOVSATCOM and the Union Secure Connectivity Programme, as well as access to GOVSATCOM services and future governmental secure connectivity services. The Commission is the Union’s negotiator. The decision allows negotiations to begin but does not amount to Ukraine joining the system. Participation requires the international agreement negotiated between the two sides, including the conditions applicable to access to sensitive services.

In the 14 October response, the Commission’s spokesperson for defence, industry and space, Thomas Regnier, said that the EU is currently discussing with Ukraine how to establish full association with GOVSATCOM. He distinguished between two types of needs. Basic connectivity can be supported through existing satellite capacities made available by the member states, while certain services for military needs could also be provided through commercial capacities that meet European security requirements. Expanding the GOVSATCOM catalogue with such commercial services is planned for 2027 and would increase the volume and types of capacity that the system can make available to authorised users.

This interim stage is important because the EU’s own satellite infrastructure, IRIS², is still under construction. Following the implementation agreement concluded in August 2026, the planned architecture was expanded to 348 satellites in low and medium orbits. The first launches are scheduled to begin in 2029, with European secure services expected to become progressively available thereafter. IRIS² is designed for government and defence communications, crisis management, critical infrastructure protection, surveillance and other services requiring resilient connectivity. GOVSATCOM thus functions both as infrastructure already available and as a transitional stage towards a broader European capability, without the two systems being identical.

The discussion at the Commission briefing began with questions about reports from Ukraine concerning problems affecting some satellite communications services and the absence of early warnings before some Russian attacks. The Commission said it did not have sufficient information to confirm a disruption to Starlink and had no indication that intelligence sharing with Ukraine had been halted. When asked whether European systems could replace US commercial services, the Commission declined the comparison and presented GOVSATCOM, future commercial capacities and IRIS² as European tools that could expand the options available to Ukraine. The news is not the existence of a complete European alternative to Starlink, but progress towards Ukraine gaining access to secure European infrastructure and the expansion of the capacities the EU can mobilise in the coming years.